Friday, January 4, 2008

In the Mail

As you may know, I like pariticpating in swaps where strangers exchange stuff based on some criteria. If the swap includes purchasing stuff then there is usually a minimum and/or maximum that can be spent. In other cases a specific type of object is to be exchanged (for example doll sized quilts) and the participants may or may not add other little goodies to the package. What this activity means is that the mail can hold a lot of surprises, some good, some excellent and some not so good.

Recently I participated in another kind of exchange.. instead of a swap it was a trade. The participants in that one were paired up with others of like mind and negotiated a specific item to exchange. It was organized through LeahPeah's Trade a Craft (link to the right) for Christmas. I was paired with two other individuals and they each selected to receive one of my fancy little purses. Leah herself was one of my partners and I selected one of her funky aprons for the trade. It looks like a little French maid's apron and turns into a pioneer type bonnet.

Here it is as an apron:

Here it as a bonnet:

(Paul makes such a good, but reluctant, model!)

I love this! The purple fabric is really neat and the apron, though small, works great for me when I cook and stops me from rubbing my hands on my jeans. I doubt I will ever wear it as a bonnet but, as Leah said, its fun just to know I could.

The other trade, so far, has been one sided. I sent off a purse to my other partner. She ackowledged receiving it but has been MIA since then. I hope its because life has intervened rather than her being a creep. If I ever find out I'll let you know.

BTW - there is a site that gathers a lot of swaps into one spot. If you would like to check out other opportunities try Swap Dex at http://swapdex.blogspot.com/. (I really must learn how to neatly imbed links into my posts!)

Have a great weekend! I intend to participate in a sewing group tomorrow where people get together and actually bring their machines to sew up a storm as well as help each other fit patterns and solve construction issues. AND they do this for four hours at a time twice a month. Pretty cool!